SHIVJI MALJI GINDARA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant aggrieved by the Judgment and order dated 5th September, 1981 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Thane in Sessions Case No. 208 of 1980 convicting and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life under section 302 I. P. C. has come up in appeal before us.

(2.) THE prosecution case in brief is as under : the deceased Naval Shivji Gindra was the wife of the appellant. She was married to the appellant in the year 1974. In the beginning the relations were good. However, two to three years after marriage when she visited her uncle Shivji Satra P. W. 5 she complained that the appellant used to beat her. Some days later she went to Kutcha the native village of her father Lakhmising Karamsi, P. W. 2. From there the appellant brought her back. Thereafter both of them started living separately at Jogeshwari. The appellant had a friend Kuverji Satra P. W. 1. He was constructing a building M. V. Estate in Virar. Fifteen to twenty days before the incident the appellant visited him. He told him that he wanted a change of surroundings and requested him to accommodate him in a room of that building. The evidence is that the construction of the said building was almost complete. On considerations of friendship Kuverji Satra permitted the appellant to live in room No. 5 of the said building till someone came to occupy it. Accordingly on 15-11-1979 the appellant along with Naval shifted in room No. 5. It is alleged that during their stay there the appellant and Naval often used to quarrel. On 24th April, 1979 at about 11. 30 to 12 in the noon when Kuverji Bachubhai Satra P. W. 1 was inside the building a quarrel took place between the appellant and his wife Naval and on account of the same the latter ran towards Virar Railway Station. Kuverji asked one Dayaram Devji who was also working in the said building to bring her back. Dayaram Devji brought her back at about 12. 30 in the noon. Thereafter Kuverji, Dayaram Devji and Naval went to room No. 5. There Kuverji asked Naval and the appellant not to quarrel and threatened them that in case they did he would throw them out from the premises. At about 1. 30 p. m. Kuverji took his lunch and slept for a while in room No. 3 of the said building. After some time he came down and upto 3 p. m. remained on the ground floor. Then he went out and returned after two hours. After returning he, Dayaram Devji and one Kanji sat talking on a cot on the ground floor. At that time the appellant came there and also joined in the conversation. All of them sat there for about one hour. At about 6 p. m. the appellant went to the first floor where his room was situated. Immediately on returning from there the appellant asked them to accompany him. Kuverji along with the appellant went to the latters room which was locked. The appellant opened the lock with a key which was with him. Before opening the lock of the room the appellant said that he was trying to wake up his wife but she did not wake up. When the lock was opened Kuverji went inside and found that Naval was lying down on the bed with her face towards the sky. Froth was coming out from her mouth, her neck was red and there was a black sign of thumb on her neck. Kuverji felt the pulse of Naval and realised that she was not alive. However, he did not tell the appellant anything. The appellant asked him to inform his brother who was residing in Jogeshwari. Kuverji went there and handed over to the brother of the appellant the chit given by the appellant. From Jogeshwari he went to Ghatkopar where the uncle of Naval, Shivji Satra resided. Along with Shivji Satra and two to three other persons he came back to Virar about 2 a. m. to 2. 30 a. m. on 25th April, 1979. All of them went to room No. 5 where the appellant and the deceased used to reside. Shivji Satra, the uncle of the deceased called the appellant by his side and started talking with him. He asked him as to who had killed Naval. The appellant replied that he had killed her as he was fed up with her. This was also heard by Kuverji and one Bachubhai Yersi who had come along with Shivji Satra from Ghatkopar.

(3.) AFTER the appellant had confessed his guilt to Shivji Satra the latter along with Kuverji and Bachubhai Yersi proceeded to police station Virar. They reached the aforesaid police station at 4 a. m. At that time Shivji Satra lodged F. I. R. Exhibit 19. On the basis of the F. I. R. C. R. No. 1-155 of 1979 was registered. After registering the offence P. S. I. Janardhan Raghunath Jain P. W. 8 proceeded to the place of the incident. He prepared the spot panchanama Exhibit 15. He found the dead body of the deceased lying in room No. 5. Thereafter he prepared the inquest panchanama Exhibit 14. In the inquest panchanama he noticed discharge of froth from the mouth of the deceased which had flown over right cheek and also on other parts of the body. He found her eyes to be closed. He found reddish signs all over the dead body. He also found injuries on the dead body. Between 8. 30 to 9 a. m. he arrested the appellant under a panchanama Exhibit 16. From the right pocket of the bush shirt of the appellant he seized a receipt of Virar Gram Panchayat which showed that he had purchased wood from the cemetery. That receipt was produced as Article 1 in the Court. Thereafter he recorded the statements of the witnesses. On 10-5-1979 he received the post mortem report and on 7th October, 1979 he submitted the charge-sheet.